Gang electric connector



H. W. BATCHELLER GANG ELECTRIC CONNECTOR Filed May 31, 1955 Aug. 9, 1960\JQ ,Phm, I wily jizwzib? v GANG ELECTRIC CONNECTOR Hugh W. Batcheller,Newton Highlands, Mass, assignmto Kent Mfg. Crp., Newton, Mass, acorporation of Massachusetts Filed May '31, 1955, Ser. No. 511,904

4 Claims. (Cl. 339-48) This invention relates to a gang electricconnector for appliances in which a considerable number of wires have tobe connected to an equal number of wires in such a way that all theconnections can be broken or remade simultaneously at will. One way ofachieving this is to attach a small connector member such as acylindrical plug to each wire of one set, preferably by solder, and tocast a block of thermoplastic insulating material to enclose the joints,leaving the terminals projecting out from the block in an orderly array.An equal number of small sockets each of which is adapted to receive oneof the plugs are soldered to the ends of the other set of wires.Thermoplastic insulating material is molded into a block enclosing thejoints but leaving the sockets sulficiently exposed to receive the plugsto make electric connections. The sockets are arranged in the block inan orderly array corresponding to that of the plugs so that the plugscan be simultaneously inserted into the sockets or withdrawn therefrom.Gang connectors of this kind are relatively expensive to make anddifiicult to repair if one or more of the individual connector unitsbecome damaged or ineffective.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a gang connectorwhich is simple in structure, easy to assemble and disassemble, easy torepair, and low in cost. Another advantageous feature of the inventionis that instead of using connectors of the male-and-female variety, thetwo gang connector members may be identical in structure. Certainembodiments of the invention are illustrated on the drawing, of which-Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of an embodiment of theinvention;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary plan view of the same embodiment;

Figure 3 is a sectional view on a larger scale, taken on the line 3-3 ofFigure 2;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary perspective View, on a larger scale, of one ofthe elements shown in Figure 1, together with a complementary connectormember;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of parts of a modified formof the invention;

Figure 6 is a perspective view of a connector element adapted to bemounted on a plate shown in Figure 7;

Figure 7 is a perspective view, on a larger scale, of a fragment of oneof the parts shown in Figure 5; and

Figure 8 is a section on the line 88 of Figure 7.

The embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figure 1 comprises tworigid plates 10 and 12 of insulation. Each of these plates has one ormore apertures or holes 14 therethrough, the apertures of each plateregistering with those of the other plate when the plates are infaceto-face alignment as shown. The holes 1'4 are square but may beotherwise shaped if desired.

Through one or more holes 14 of each plate a conductor 16 extends, theseconductors being provided in pairs for corresponding holes in the twoplates. Each conductor 16 is characterized by a portion 18 whichprojects from the outer face of the plate through which the tates Patent0 "ice conductor extends and two diverging cars 20 which project fromthe inner face of said plate and overlap portions of the inner face ofthe plate adjacent to the hole. Each ear 20 preferably makes an obliqueangle with the plane of the inner face of the plate, so that when theplates are pressed together as in Figure 3, the extremities of the earsof one conductor press against the extremities of the ears of theopposing conductor. As the conductors are preferably made of a metalsuch as brass having an appreciable resilience, when the opposing ears24) are pressed against each other with sufficient force to decrease theangles between the ears and the planes of the inner faces of the plates,the restoring force inherent in the distorted ears maintains a firmpressure between opposing ears and thus promotes good electricalcontacts. In order to maintain correct mutual alignment of the plateswhen they are pressed together, a pin 22 may be mounted in one of themto project into a suitably placed hole in the other plate. Clips 24 areprovided to hold the plates together close enough to maintain pressurebetween the mutually engaged ears 20 between them. As shown, there aretwo clips 24, each comprising a U- shaped member of channel stock, thechannel width being just sufficient to span the edges of the assembledplates it) and 12 when the latter are pressed together sufficiently todistort the mutually engaged ears 20 between them. The dimensions of theU-shape of each clip 24 is such that the clip fits over an end marginand about half of each side margin of the assembled plates. Thus theplates are positively held along practically their entire peripheries.To hold the clip in place, locking lugs 26 may be provided to projectfrom the side edges of the plates to engage in suitable holes 28 in theends of the clips.

The portion 13 of each conductor 16 which projects from the outer faceof a plate is adapted to be connected to a wire. In the form of theconductor illustrated in Figures 3 and 4, this portion consists of atongue adapted to fit into the channel of a female connector member 30of any of the several well-known varieties designed to be assembled witha plane tongue to make a good electrical connection. The connectormember 30 is adapted to be permanently attached to the end of a wire 32.The conductor 16 can readily be made by taking a strip of brass ofsuitable length and of a width slightly less than a side of one of thesquare apertures 14. This strip is folded upon itself at its transversemedian, the portions adjacent to the fold being pressed intoface-to-face contact so that they form the tongue 18. The portions ofthe strip adjacent to the tongue diverge sufficiently to engage opposingsides of the aperture 14 through which the conductor extends. Theextremities of the strip are bent more sharply outward to form the ears20. To prevent the conductors 16 from falling out of the holes 14 whenthe plates 10 and 12 are separated, an outwardly projecting boss 34 maybe formed on each side of the conductor to snap over an outer edge ofthe hole 14.

Another form 36 of conductor is shown in Figures 6 and 8. This form ismade by cutting a suitable blank rom a sheet of brass and bending theblank to a channel form adapted to be permanently crimped on the end ofa wire 38 with or without soldering or Welding. The sides of the channelhave parallel extensions 40 adapted to fit against the sides of anaperture 42 through a plate 10' or 12'. The extensions '40 terminate indiverging ears 20 which may be similar in shape and arrangement to theears 20 hereinbefore described.

To facilitate mounting a conductor 36 on a plate after it has beenattached to a wire 38, each aperture 42 is connected to the adjacentedge of the plate by a slot 44 which is narrower than the aperture 42but is wide enough to permit the extensions 40 to pass through to theaperture when they are pressed toward each other sufficiently. In otherrespects the plates and 12' may be similar to the plates 10 and 12 andmay be similarly pressed together by clips 24 which engage the outermargins of the plates when the latter are near enough to each other todistort the pairs of mutually engaged cars 20.

The plates maybe made with any suitable number of apertures consistentwith the size and rigidity of the plates. Since each pair of earspresses against the opposing pair sufficiently to distort and bedistorted thereby, there are no loose contacts in such a gang connector.Furthermore, when the plates are separated, it is easy to remove andreplace any of the individual conductors.

I claim:

1. An electric connector comprising two rigid normally parallel platesof insulation having mutually registering apertures therethrough, aconductor projecting through each said aperture, each said conductorconsisting of a strip of resilient metal doubled upon itself to form aflat tongue projecting from one face of one of said plates, theextremities of each said strip engaging the opposite face of its plateand extending away from each other at acute angles to the plane of itsplate, and means clamping the margins of the plates with the extremitiesof the conductors in one plate pressing against the extremities of thecorresponding conductors in the other plate.

2. An electric connector as described in claim 1, said clamping meanscomprising two U-shaped channel members each of which overlaps themargins along an end and approximately half of both side edges of themutually remote faces of said plates.

' 3. An electric connector comprising two rigid normally parallel platesof insulation having mutually registering apertures therethrough, aconductor projecting through each said aperture, each said conductorconsisting of a strip of resilient metal doubled upon itself to form aflat tongue projecting from one face of one of said plates, each saidconductor having portions within its aperture spaced to engage the sidesof said aperture and extremities extending away from each other at acuteangles to the plane of its plate, a boss on each said conductor engagingthe plate at said aperture to lock said conductor releasably in place,and clamping means engaging the margins of said plates to press theextremities of the conductors of one plate in contact with theextremities of corresponding conductors in the other plate.

4. An electric connector as described in claim 3, said clamping meanscomprising two U-shaped channel members each of which overlaps themargins along an end and approximately half of both side edges of themutually remote faces of said plates.

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